A MADNESS SHARED BY MANY, a video installation by PHOENIX MARS and open mic night inspired by Max Ehrmann's prose poem “Desiderata".

Hosted by THE MESS: an interactive space for art and life.

45 Moffat St, Brooklyn, NY

Opening & Performance: Oct 8, 5:00pm - 8:00pm

On view by appointment only: Oct 8 - Oct 22, 2016

“Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence . . . .”

“Desiderata” is the third most-searched poem on Google. It was found on Adlai Stevenson’s bedside table after he died, has been read publicly by Leonard Nimoy, Joan Crawford, and Pierre Trudeau, among others, and it probably adorned the door of a classroom in a school you went to, or was recited by a fellow student or a teacher when you graduated. The poem’s simple and straightforward enjoinments—“be gentle with yourself,” “listen to others,” “strive to be happy”—have encouraged many people around the world since it was written, and make manifest a communal sensibility that’s simple, timeless, and universal.

Or is it just populist drivel?

Juxtaposing conventional wisdom with contemporary thought through video and 3D performance, A MADNESS SHARED BY MANY is our attempt to find out. Come. Be ready to be vulnerable.